Trump’s Hand-to-Hand Combat (“Donald Trump is not a tough guy. He’s a faux tough guy. That is not even in the American tradition. All of our famously tough icons, on screen and in life, were able to exude strength without using brute force. And they did it while standing up for people, not smacking them down.”)

Schapiro: The House, a new ad and Howell’s nightmare (“Because you can’t defeat someone with no one, the wave of Democratic challengers will require both parties to make tough decisions about where to spend money, dispatch operatives, place radio and television advertising, run telephone banks, and generate snail- and e-mail.”)

In light of new revelations about Jared Kushner and the Russians, the White House is entering crisis mode – setting up a legal team and a war room.

Part of the new strategy is to shore up Trump’s base. He’ll have more limited interactions with journalists, while seizing more opportunities to communicate directly with his core supporters through campaign rallies, social media appearances such as Facebook Live videos, and interviews with friendly news organizations.

As the evidence of collusion (and, perhaps, treason) mounts, the question is far larger than when or if Jared Kushner will leave the White House. It’s when and how Trump will leave the White House? And, before he does, what he will try to instigate among his loyalists?

Tristan Shields (appeared on The Voice in 2012; now a Democratic candidate for House of Delegates in VA-18: “Thanks so much to Gene Rossi for Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Steve Aycock, Elizabeth Guzman for Delegate and all the Democratic Committees for coming up on stage and singing Stand By Me with me yesterday at the Candidates forum. #standbyme!”

Their names were Taliesin Myrddin Namkai-Meche and Ricky John Best. One was a recent college graduate. The other was an army veteran and father of four. I wish we would hear you say these names, or even just tweet them. They were brave Americans who died at the hands of someone who, when all the facts are collected, we may have every right to call a terrorist.

This story may not neatly fit into a narrative you pushed on the campaign trail and that has followed you into the White House. They were not killed by an undocumented immigrant or a “radical Islamic terrorist.” They were killed in an act of civic love, facing down a man allegedly spewing hate speech directed at two young Muslim women. That man seems to have a public record of “extremist ideology” – a term issued by the Portland Police Bureau.

This “extremism” may be of a different type than gets most of your attention, or even the attention in the press. But that doesn’t make it any less serious, or deadly. And this kind of “extremism” is on the rise, especially in the wake of your political ascendency. Most people who study these sorts of things do not think that is a coincidence. I do blame you directly for this incident. Nor do I think other people should. But what a President says, who he has around him, and the tone he sets can set the tone for the nation at large.

Perhaps Portland, Oregon is off your radar. It is, after all, a rather liberal place. It’s even a “sanctuary city..” But it is still an American city. And you are its President. Two Americans have died leaving family and friends behind. They are mourned by millions more who are also deeply worried about what might come next.
I hope you can find it worthy of your time to take notice.